Hikers can get wet feet on one of Arkansas' most scenic hiking trails. Wet with sweat might be the story on another.
A weekend road trip in October led to hikes on the stunning North Sylamore Creek Trail near Mountain View and the lofty Buffalo River Overlook Trail at the Tyler Bend visitor center south of Harrison. Fall foliage time is ideal for a visit to both trails, or any Arkansas hiking destination.
The trip to the Mountain View area is an annual autumn trek for Tom and Karen Mowry of Nob Hill and me. There's plenty of hiking, great bike riding and trout fishing over a weekend that flies by way too fast.
For several years, we've stayed at a nice little cabin along Sylamore Creek, just north of Mountain View in the little burg of Alison. Most trips we toss our bags into the cabin when we arrive about noon, then high-tail it over to the North Sylamore Creek Trail for an afternoon hike.
If there was a vote, the Sylamore Creek trail might win as Arkansas' prettiest hiking trail. It could even be a landslide. Stunning, gorgeous, magnificent are adjectives that don't do justice to the beauty of this 13 mile path through the Ozark National Forest. The main trail starts at the Barkshed trail head and meanders east to the trail head at Alison, about a mile from our cabin.
There are access points in between, including one at Blanchard Springs Caverns. You can't go wrong starting a hike anywhere and hiking in either direction.
A favorite hike of ours starts at Gunner Pool trail head and goes west. Hikers pass beneath bluff shelters, through a cedar and hardwood forest. The whole trail is close to North Sylamore Creek, which has some of the clearest water of any Ozark stream. It is simply gorgeous, magnificent, just like the entire hike.
If camping is on your agenda, Gunner Pool is one of the loveliest U.S. Forest Service campgrounds you will ever see. There are lots of sites close to the water.
It had been years since we started at the Alison trail head and hiked west, so we decided to shake things up and do it. One little snag is, you have to cross North Sylamore Creek at the start of the hike. No big deal. Just take your shoes off and wade. Or, go across by walking along the trunk of a fallen tree that let us cross dry, unless you slip and fall off into the creek. But the next flood might carry that tree away.
In a mile we came to a box canyon, a miniature Hemmed-In-Hollow of sorts, a small version of the famous canyon and waterfall along the Buffalo River. This has been a dry time of year, so no waterfall. There were a few puddles in the bedrock. Footing can be a little iffy on some of the North Sylamore Creek Trail, so be careful.
A weekend of hiking, biking and trout fishing is over too soon. To break up the drive home, we stopped for a lunchtime hike along the Buffalo River at Tyler Bend. There's a dandy one-mile trail from the visitor center that goes up, up, to lofty views of the river valley.
We met two other hikers doing some bird watching on the trail. Forest in the lower elevations were loaded with birds, all kinds flitting from tree to tree and singing away. The higher we climbed, the fewer birds we saw, but the more scenery unfolded.
At the top, several views of the river valley open up on the bluff top. Each is worth its own page on a kitchen calendar. The highest view is at an overlook platform that's at least 300 feet above the water.
Hikers can walk farther on the trail to the Collier Homestead, or go back to the visitor center, as we did. It was a nice two-mile hike that made for a pleasant leg stretch on the drive home to Northwest Arkansas.
When fall color hollers out for a road trip, a getaway to the Buffalo or Sylamore Creek can't be beat.
Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip
Sports on 11/08/2016